Reduction of powder waste in selective inhibition of sintering

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are methods and systems for selective inhibition of sintering in 3D fabrication. The disclosure provides methods and systems that use selective heating arrangements to selectively sinter areas during fabrication thereby reducing waste improving efficiency.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/742,511 filed Dec. 19, 2003, entitled “Methods for Reductionof Powder Waste in Selective Inhibition of Sintering (SIS)” which issuesas U.S. Pat. No. 7,291,242 and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 fromProvisional Application Ser. No. 60/435,936 filed Dec. 20, 2002. Theentire disclosures of the above two prior patent applications areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to fabrication ofthree-dimensional objects, and more specifically, to selective reductionof powder waste in selective inhibition of sintering during fabricationof such objects.

BACKGROUND

Three-dimensional (3-D) objects, such as prototype parts, may beproduced directly from computer-aided design databases. Varioustechnologies are known to produce such objects, particularly through theuse of layered additive processes. Commercially adapted methods oflayered manufacturing use various forms of materials. For example,stereolithography (STL) uses a resin photopolymer resin that isselectively hardened by a laser beam delivering UV light at desirablespots on each thin resin layer. Fused Deposition Method (FDM) uses aplastic filament that is forced through a hot nozzle that deposits thematerial to form each layer. Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)laminates cut sheets of a special paper to create 3D parts. Twoprocesses commonly used are 3D printing and Selective Laser Sintering(SLS). Three-Dimensional printing (3DP) uses adhesive droplets depositedon each thin powder layer to create bonding of powder particles inselected spots of each layer. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)selectively bonds powdered material using laser. SLS works by depositingand heating by means of a scanning laser beam, which bonds powdermaterial at selected locations of the powder layer. The powder materialmay include polymer, ceramic, or metal.

However, layer-by-layer selective bonding processes, such as SLS and 3-DPrinting, are time consuming and expensive. For example, those methodsthat use a laser incur the high cost of the laser and the low scanningspeed due to relatively wide cross-section area per layer for sinteringcompared to the beam size. For other methods, difficulties occur fromthe slow process of scanning the entire volume of the object, layer bylayer, by sintering or other fusion process. Furthermore, when sinteringor heating a selected area, a relatively uniform temperature needs to bemaintained on the powder surface in order to prevent deformations.

SUMMARY

In recognition of the above-described difficulties, the disclosureprovides a faster and cheaper method and system than the conventionalmethod.

Disclosed is a method for fabricating a three-dimensional (3D) object.The method includes providing a layer of powder material of a type thatis changed to a bonded form by heating; causing selective bonding ofareas of said layer of powder material by selectively heating parts ofareas; and repeating said providing and causing selective bonding, untilsaid bonding results in a desired 3-D object being formed. The methodmay further include selecting areas to receive a bonding inhibitoraccording to a cross-sectional design of said 3-D object; andselectively depositing the bonding inhibitor on selected areas of saidlayer of powder material prior to said causing selective bonding.

The disclosure also provides a selective heating apparatus forfabricating a three-dimensional (3-D) object. The selective heatingapparatus comprises an air manifold; a heating element, in fluidcommunication with the air manifold, producing heated air, andoutputting said heated air via said air manifold; an actuator; a shutterlever comprising a first end proximal to the actuator; and a distal end;and a shutter located at the distal end of the shutter lever such thatthe actuator is capable of moving the shutter lever from a firstposition to a second position thereby moving the shutter at the distalend, the shutter being in fluid communication with the heating elementand air, such that movement of the shutter causes a deflection in theair movement.

The disclosure provides a selective heating apparatus for fabricating athree-dimensional (3-D) object including a radiant heating element; anactuator; a shutter lever comprising a first end proximal to theactuator; and a distal end; and a shutter located at the distal end ofthe shutter lever, wherein the actuator is capable of moving the shutterlever from a first position to a second position thereby moving theshutter at the distal end, wherein movement of the shutter causes adeflection in heat.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedescription and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate a selective inhibition sintering (SIS) process.

FIG. 2 shows a rectangular selective heating element with a rasterscanning movement pattern.

FIG. 3 shows a circular selective heating element with a raster scanningmovement pattern.

FIG. 4 shows a selective heating element with a movement pattern, whichtraces the part layer profile (vector scanning pattern).

FIGS. 5A and B show a spot heater selective heating element with ashutter activated by a rotary solenoid.

FIGS. 6A-C show a heater assembly comprising a plurality of individualheating elements.

FIG. 7 shows a shutter lever in more detail.

FIGS. 8A and B show end views of a bar heater.

FIGS. 9A and B show two views of a selective hot air heating element.

FIGS. 10A and B show two view of a selective hot air heating element in(A) off position and (B) on position.

FIGS. 11A and B show exploded and assembled views of implementation of aselective hot air heating element to a bar heater with multipleshutters.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a solid 3-D object fabricated using the SISprocess.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A selective inhibition sintering (SIS) process 300 is illustrated inFIG. 1. Three different surfaces: 320, 330 & 340 may be processed. Theprocess 300 includes a thin, evenly distributed layer of powder 312. Asintering inhibitor liquid may be applied to the areas of the powderthat fall on the boundary of part cross-section on the layer. Aselective heating element 342 may then be used to sinter the powder 312that is inside a cross-section 324 of the part to be fabricated. Thecross-section 324 may be sintered according to a 3D computer-aideddesign (CAD) model of the prototype. The energy added by the selectiveheating element 342 heats the powder 312 into a glass-like state andindividual particles coalesce into a solid. The selective heatingelement heats only an area requiring sintering for fabrication.Selective heating element 342 is shown as a bar heater having aplurality of shutters that open and close thereby controlling exposureof the heat energy used to selectively heat a desired area (see, alsoFIGS. 5-12). Sufficient energy is directed to the powder so as to causeit to fuse into the desired part cross-section. For most powdersprocessed in this manner, including wax, plastic and metallic powders,the fusing mechanism includes sintering, in which the surface tension ofthe irradiated powder overcomes its viscosity, such that the particlesflow together and bond. As such, the temperature at which sinteringoccurs is substantially lower than the melting or softening point of thepowder material. Once the heating element 342 has scanned the entirecross-section 324, another layer of powder 312 is laid on top and thewhole process is repeated. Additional powder is supplied from a powderstorage container, and is distributed with a roller 314.

As part of a selective inhibition of bonding process, bonding inhibitorsmay be applied to certain areas of the powder layer located on the partprofile boundary on that layer (as specified by a CAD cross-section).Such inhibitors are added to the boundary of a fabrication part togenerate a separation field. After application of the bondinginhibitors, the entire layer may be exposed only once to a heatingelement which serves to bond or sinter the un-inhibited powder. Asdescribed further herein, the selective heating element also serves toselectively bond particular regions of the powder layer. Thus, thedisclosure provides an efficient method and system for fabrication thatserves to reduce powder waste.

Accordingly, the selective inhibition of sintering (SIS) process offersadvantages over the selective bonding process (e.g. SLS and 3-D Printing(3DP)) where the bonding inhibitors are applied to some selected areasof the powder layer. For example, adhesion (as in 3DP) or sintering (asin SLS) is required over the entire cross-sectional area. The selectivebonding by either inkjet printing (3DP) or by a scanning laser beam(SLS) sweeping the entire cross-section areas is time consuming. Incontrast, the SIS process selectively applies in one aspect a bondinginhibitor to a part's cross-section boundary in each layer and, by meansof a heater apparatus, also allows for selective sintering of areas.Therefore, the SIS process may be performed significantly faster thanthe selective bonding process. Furthermore, concurrently subjectinglarger areas of powder layer to uniform heat, as opposed to subjecting aseries of small areas under a heating element minimizes deformation andreduces powder waste. The selective inhibition of sintering processoffers better dimensional control, reduced machine cost, and reducedfabrication time, than the selective bonding processes.

FIG. 2 shows a selective heating element used in raster scan sintering.Raster scan sintering uses the movement of a heating element over anarea to be sintered in a raster fashion. In this embodiment of the SISprocess, a small heat element which can radiate heat on an area whichmay be (but need not have to be) larger than the smallest layer profilegeometric feature may be used. The element may be attached to the samedrive mechanism, which moves a print head associated with deposition ofsintering inhibitors. After the printing of the inhibitor for a profileis completed, a selective heating element is moved over the desiredareas of the powder in side-to-side raster scanning or other patternssuch that the overall time of sintering is minimized. FIG. 3 shows onesuch scanning pattern for the given part profile. In this figure, aheater with a rectangular radiation surface is used. The gray area isthe powder bed, the line is the part layer profile where the inhibitoris deposited, the rectangle is the heater exposure area, and the darkgray area is the sintered (bonded with heat) section of the powder. FIG.3 shows the same pattern when a circular spot heater is used.

For thin part features, such as thin walls, the spot heater may be movedabove the part layer profile such that its center is always above thecenter of the thin profile. FIG. 4 shows such a situation for creationof a hollow cube. As an example, the wall thickness in this case may be2 mm and the radius of the circular heater radiation area may be 4 mm.In both of these cases the wasted powder (powder sintered in areas otherthan the part itself) is reduced significantly as compared with themethod using a heat radiating plate with a masking frame, or a passingheat-radiating bar.

The heater may be connected to the back of the print head and hence itsmotion may be provided by the same mechanism that moves the print head,such as during deposition of a sintering inhibitor. Sintering may beperformed after the application of the inhibitor to the layer iscompleted, or it can be done concurrently, that is, as the inhibitor isprinted in a raster-scanning manner, the heater sinters the segmentsthat the print head has already passed.

FIG. 5 shows a selective heating element. Heating element 550 may be anelectric filament which could be a spirally-coiled nichrome ribbon (suchas the type used in car cigarette lighters), a gas burner, an infra-redheater, or other forms of heat source. For example, the heating elementmay be made with nichrome wire coil wound around a ceramic tube, aquartz heater, an infrared lamp, or the like. The heating element 550 isconnected to a sleeve 570 through which passes a rotatable shaft 525.The rotatable shaft 525 has at one end a solenoid 500 which uponactivation rotates the shaft from a first position (as depicted in FIG.5A) to a second position (as depicted in FIG. 5B) or vice versa. Theshaft has at the opposite end and proximal to the heating element ashutter 560 that is capable of covering and exposing the heating element550 during operation when heat is either not needed or needed,respectively.

FIGS. 6A and B show a bar heater 590. FIGS. 6A and 6B show the front andback of a bar heater with individual selective heating elements. FIGS.6A and 6B show support structure 680 having a front and a backside. Thesupport structure 680 comprises a hinge portion 610, which is located onone side of the support structure. Hinge portion 610 allows movement ofshutter lever 620 between a first position and second position asdepicted in FIG. 6C. The shutter lever 620 moves by activation of asolenoid 600. The shutter lever may be any material and will depend uponthe solenoid construction. In one embodiment, the solenoid 600 is amagnetic coil and the shutter is a metallic object that can be attractedto the magnetic coil when the solenoid is activated. Shutter lever 620optionally includes a weight balance 630 to assist in movement of theshutter lever 620 between a first position and second position. Theweight balance 630 serves as a counter-weight such that the lower partof the latch is always pushed forward toward the heating element 650,when the shutter lever 620 is hung from the hinge portion 610. All hingeportions may be made of a single metallic piece. The hook-type arrayshown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is easy to machine. FIG. 7 shows the shutterlever 620 in more detail.

In use, a bar heater 590 is passed over a powder bed to be sintered. Asthe bar heater 590 is moved over an area to be sintered solenoid 600 isactuated thereby attracting shutter lever 620 and moving shutter 620A toexpose heating element 650 to the powder area to be sintered. Asmentioned above, the heating element 650 may be made with nichrome wirecoil wound around a ceramic tube, a quartz heater, an infrared lamp, agas burner, or any other possible heat source. Typically, the heatingelement 650 will be installed under the lower edge of support structure680 (e.g., a ceramic material) as shown in FIG. 6.

The shutter lever 620 also includes a shutter 620A that is capable ofcovering or exposing heating element 650 as needed during operation.Each shutter 620A is attached to the lower part of a shutter lever 620such as a metallic latch (see FIG. 7) made of iron, steel, or anymaterial that may be attracted to a magnet. The latch design can bestamped inexpensively out of sheet metal. An array of shutters 620A inthe form of small panels is selectively brought between the heatingelement 650 and the powder surface to prevent sintering of areas thatare not to be sintered. The shutters 620A may be made of aradiation-reflecting sheet with a layer of heat insulating materialunderneath.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show and end view of a bar heater 590 in further detail.Shown are solenoids 600, shutter lever 620 sitting on hinge portion 610(here a hook structure), shutter 620A, weight balance 630, and heatingelement 650. FIG. 8B depicts the movement of shutter lever 620 from afirst position to a second position such that shutter 620A eitherexposes or covers heating element 650. The solenoid 600 can be an arrayof wire coils each with an iron core installed on the top section of thesupport 680 to create temporary magnetic field on demand.

To expose the powder section under a selected heating element 590, thecorresponding shutter lever 620 is tilted by means of activating itscorresponding electric magnet or solenoid 600, which attracts the topsection of the shutter lever 620. This is shown in FIG. 8B. In the SISprocess, after powder layer spreading and inhibitor deposition, thesintering takes place. Here the heater assembly is moved over the powderbed. Computer software determines which areas of the powder need to beexposed to heat based upon a CAD design present in the computer system.As the heater is passed over the powder bed, the computer activates andreleases the shutter levers via the solenoids at locations specified bythe software and based upon the item being fabricated. In addition, oneof skill in the art will recognize that the entire bar heater assemblymay be elevated (or tilted) upon powder spreading to avoid contaminatingthe heater assembly with powder material.

Also note that the resolution of this masking method along the motionpath of the heater can be very fine because each electric magnet may beturned on and off with relatively high frequency, and hence could allowa small area to be exposed to heat. The sintering resolution along themotion direction could be very fine, but along the directionperpendicular to the motion path the resolution would depend on thenumber of masking elements used. For example, an 8″ (approx 20 cm) widepowder bed sintered in the presence of a bar comprising 32 maskingelements would provide a 0.25″ (6.35 mm) sintering resolution along thedirection perpendicular to the direction of motion.

In another aspect, a heating element that provides heated air isdisclosed. The methods described so far are described using radiation tomelt, for example, plastic particles. Radiation has certain limitationsconsisting of (i) only a small portion of the heater energy is used forsintering; most of the energy is dissipated through convection (by theheated air that flows and rises above the heat element, and (ii) onlythe top surfaces of those top powder particles that are exposed receiveradiated heat; the rest of the particles in the layer receive heat onlyfrom these top particles through conduction. Besides resulting in arelatively slow sintering (because of poor heat conductivity of powder),this problem contributes to the powder layer deformation, because thetop particles become more densely sintered than the lower ones.

An approach that alleviates the above problems is sintering by means ofheated air. If the rate of flow is small, the hot air will not blow thepowder particles. For example, as the particles on the top of the powderbed come in contact with hot air, they melt and bond and create a porousblanket that keeps any loose powder underneath from being blown away.

FIG. 9 shows a selective hot air heating element 900. An air hose 910delivers cool air at a low rate to an air chamber 920, which stabilizesthe incoming turbulent air. The air is directed toward an electric heatelement 930. During operation solenoid 940 can be activated to moveshutter lever 950, sitting on hinge portion 955 (here a hook structure),between a first position and a second position. The movement of shutterlever 950 results in movement of shutter 950A attached to the shutterlever 950. A weight balance 960 assists in pushing shutter lever 950 andshutter 950A to a position that blocks heating element 930 from beingexposed to a powder surface. The shutter lever 950 is activated usingsolenoid 940, such as an electrically created magnetic field using acoil and an iron core, which attracts the shutter lever's top end uponactivation.

FIGS. 10A and 10B show that, depending upon the position of a shutterlever 950, that hot air can either be directed downwards onto the powdersurface (see, e.g., FIG. 10B), or directed sideways and up, away fromthe powder surface (see, e.g., FIG. 10A). In this arrangement, the airconstantly flows and hence the heating element remains at a stabletemperature.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show an exploded and assembled views of animplementation of the hot air heater concept to a bar heater withmultiple shutters. Shown are air chamber 920, which in the bar manifoldembodiment includes a single or multiple independent air chambers thatstabilize the incoming turbulent air. The air is then directed towardthe electric heat elements 930. Also depicted is solenoid 940, shutterlever 950 sitting on hinge portion 955 (here a hook structure), shutter950A, weight balance 960, and heating element 970.

FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C show an embodiment of a selective inhibition ofsintering (SIS) process 300. The process 300 includes laying a thinpowder layer, depositing a sintering inhibitor, and sintering the powderlayer by heating using a selective heating element.

In the SIS process 300, a thin powder layer 312 is laid using a roller314. The roller 314 sweeps a horizontal surface slightly above theprevious layer and carries the powder material in front. This sweepingmotion is performed while rotating, such that the roller's front surfacemakes an upward motion. This approach creates thin and uniformly densepowder layers 312.

The deposition of sintering inhibitor involves using an extrusion nozzlewith a fine orifice 322, such as an inkjet printer head. The nozzle 322is used to deposit sintering inhibitor that prevents the selected areasof the powder layer on the part's boundary surfaces from sintering underheat. A typical profile 324 of printed deposition of the sinteringinhibitor material is shown. The deposition of different types ofsintering inhibitors is discussed in detail herein.

In the illustrated embodiment, the sintering process involves using aselective heating element 342 (here depicted as a bar heater) to sinterthe uninhibited areas 344 of the powder layer. The heating element 342is scanned over specific areas of the powder layer to selectively sinterthose specific areas. In one embodiment, the selective heating elementis scanned in a raster fashion over the powder area and radiates heatonly at an area where sintering is desired. In another aspect, asdiscussed below, the selective heating element includes a plurality ofindividual heating elements each of which can be selectively turned onor off to radiate heat at a desired position. Thus, in one aspect, theselective heating element comprises a bar comprising a plurality ofindividual heating elements. The bar is moved across the powder suchthat sintering occurs only at select areas by turning on and off one ormore of the plurality of individual heating elements.

Referring now to FIG. 12, after all layers have been sintered 1300, thefinal part 1302 may be extracted. The un-sintered powder may be reusedand the excess material 1304 that is sintered may be crushed andrecycled into a powder form.

As discussed above, the mechanisms for the deposition of the sinteringinhibitor may involve several different implementations. In someimplementations, thermal insulation may allow the sintering inhibitor toprevent the powder from achieving the temperature necessary for bonding.In other implementations, particle surface interference provides theinhibitor to occupy the interstitial voids of the powder matrix.Particle surface interference further provides the inhibitor to producea mechanical barrier to bonding. An inhibitor that causes mechanicalinterference could be a solution that can leave solid crystal particles(such as salt water) after evaporation. The growth of crystal particlespushes the base powder particles away from each other, therebypreventing sintering.

As mentioned above, the SIS process uses selective heating elements.Thus, as an alternatives to using masking plates is the use of a passingheating bar, a radiation panel that is made out of a relatively smallnumber (low resolution) of discrete heating elements that can each beindependently activated such that a selected area of the powder layer issintered. Another embodiment includes the use of a point heater that islarge enough to scan the desired areas of each layer at a relativelyhigh speed, and is small enough to minimize excessive powder sintering.

An alternative to sintering each successive layer is bulk sintering, inwhich partial sintering is performed after inhibitor application to eachlayer and once all layers are treated with the inhibitor liquid theentire powder volume in the build tank is transferred to a sinteringoven. After sintering the part may be extracted from the unwantedsintered sections. To contain the loose powder volume for transfer tothe oven, the periphery of each layer may be sintered by a fixed shapeline heater (square or circular), or by a single point heater (spotheater) that sinters a thin line around the periphery of each layerusing a profile that is as close as possible to the layer profile. Themain advantages of the bulk sintering alternative are: a) it simplifiesthe machine (as no heating element or environmental temperature controlwould be needed), and b) it results in minimal part deformations due tothe sintering of the entire part at once.

There are a number of advantages to the SIS process described herein.For example, an apparatus based on SIS will be far less expensive thanthe SLS machine because the high power laser generator of SLS isreplaced with an inexpensive heat element and furthermore several of theenvironmental control features in SLS are unnecessary in SIS. Inaddition, the SIS process is fast because the entire layer can berapidly and selectively sintered. The dimensional accuracy and surfacequality of the fabricated parts is likely to be superior to that of 3Dprinting and SLS. Because it prints only on part boundary areas, SISrequires less inhibitor liquid to prevent sintering than the amount ofbinder liquid required to promote adhesion in 3D printing; therefore,there is relatively little spreading of the liquid through the powder.Also, high resolution (e.g., 3000 dpi or higher; roughly 8 micron linethickness) inkjet printers if used with fine powder particles (e.g., 1-5micron) can enable SIS to produce parts much finer than what iscurrently possible with SLS and 3D Printing. Parts generated to date bySIS are already comparable in surface quality with those produced bySLS, and seem to be superior to those produced by 3D printing.Furthermore, SIS allows for fabrication of multi-color parts wherevarious colors of the inhibitor agent are deposited (as in color inkjetprinters), and if a post processing of the finished part is performed topermanently bond the color pigments to the part surfaces.

An advantage of an SIS process over the SLS process includes that anapparatus based on SIS may be less expensive than the equivalent SLSmachine because the high power laser generator is replaced with aninexpensive selective heating element comprising radiating heat orheated air.

A number of embodiments of the invention have been described.Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the followingclaims.

1. A selective heating apparatus for fabricating a three-dimensional(3-D) object, comprising: an air manifold; a heating element, in fluidcommunication with the air manifold, producing heated air within saidair manifold; an array of shutters arranged such that when the shuttersare closed the array of shutters forms an outer-surface that blocks anoutlet of the air manifold and restricts heated air from leaving the airmanifold through the air manifold outlet, and the array of shuttersbeing arranged such that when one or more selected shutters of the arrayof the shutters are opened the outer-surface is disrupted to releaseheated air at respective one or more selected locations of the airmanifold outlet associated with the selectively opened one or moreshutters; a plurality of actuators corresponding to the array ofshutters such that a shutter of the array is connected with anassociated actuator of the plurality of the actuators through a shutterlever comprising a first end proximal to the associated actuator and adistal end proximal to the shutter, wherein the associated actuator isconfigured to move the shutter lever from a closed position to an openedposition thereby moving the shutter at the distal end to transition fromrestricting heated air from leaving the air manifold to releasing heatedair from the air manifold at the selected location; and a computercommunicatively coupled with the plurality of actuators and configuredto position the outer-surface of the air manifold outlet formed by thearray of shutters with respect to a cross-section of said 3-D objectusing a drive mechanism, and actuate one or more select actuators of theplurality of the actuators to open corresponding select one or moreshutters of the array to provide heated air from the positioned airmanifold outlet at one or more locations of the cross-section of said3-D object selected in accordance with a profile of the cross-section ofsaid 3-D object.
 2. The selective heating apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe air manifold further comprises an inlet port.
 3. The selectiveheating apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of actuatorsis a solenoid.
 4. The selective heating apparatus of claim 1, whereineach of the plurality of actuators is a magnetic coil.
 5. The selectiveheating apparatus of claim 2, wherein the shutter lever is metallic. 6.The selective heating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computercomprises a computer system associated with computer-aided design (CAD)profiles of cross-sections of said 3-D object.
 7. The selective heatingapparatus of claim 1, wherein a width of the air manifold outlet issubstantially equal to a first lateral dimension of each of the shuttersin the array, and a length of the air manifold outlet is substantiallyequal to multiplicative product of a quantity of shutters in the arrayand a second lateral dimension of each of the shutters in the array. 8.The selective heating apparatus of claim 7, wherein the quantity of theshutters in the array determines a fabrication resolution on thecross-section of said 3-D object along a direction orthogonal to adirection of a lateral translation.